In general, the present invention relates to an information communicating method, an information providing apparatus, a radio-communication system and a radio-communication terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to an information communicating method, an information providing apparatus, a radio-communication system and a radio-communication terminal wherein the information communicating method is used for notifying a specific radio-communication terminal in each specific area unit in the radio-communication system of presentation information peculiar to the specific area unit by using the presentation information.
Conventional information communicating services such those rendered by a paging system are explained as follows.
First of all, as a first conventional technology, there is provided a method of transmitting information from an information center to a pager terminal by way of a telephone-exchange station and displaying information by operations of a public telephone or the like carried out by a subscriber as is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Sho61-193527 entitled xe2x80x9cPaging Method of Broadcast Messagesxe2x80x9d.
In addition, as a second conventional technology, there is provided a method whereby information is stored in an information center which can be accessed by a subscriber from a telephone through a telephone-exchange station, the subscriber is allowed to enter data via the telephone in accordance with voice guidance given by the information center and the information center transmits information based on the data to a pager terminal as is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei8-97935 entitled xe2x80x9cMethod of Storing Information from Pager Terminals and Its Apparatusxe2x80x9d.
Furthermore, as a third conventional technology, there is provided a method whereby a subscriber makes a connection call from a mobile terminal to an information center through a telephone-exchange station in a radio-communication system to enter data via the mobile-communication terminal in accordance with instructions given by the information center and the information center transmits information based on the data to the mobile-communication terminal as is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei9-130861 entitled xe2x80x9cMethod of Presenting Information to a Mobile-Communication Terminal, Information Presentation System and Mobile Terminalxe2x80x9d and Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei9-261752 entitled xe2x80x9cService Information Notification System and Service Information Communicating Methodxe2x80x9d.
In the case of a method using a paging system like the first conventional technology, however, a range of subscribers recognized by the telephone-exchange station or a location-registration area for registering positions of subscribers is broadened. Thus, this method is suitable for dissemination of information good for a wide area such as news. On the other side of the coin, however, the method is not suitable for dissemination of information good for a narrow range such as information restricted to only a specific area.
In order to obtain information with the second conventional technology, 2 information terminals, namely, a telephone anda pager terminal, are required. In addition, a subscriber needs to make an access to the information center every time the subscriber wants to obtain information. Thus, the second conventional technology has a problem of extremely poor usability. In addition, in the case of the second conventional technology, transmission of information is triggered by a telephone call made by a subscriber so that the subscriber must pay the fee for the telephone call, hence, bearing a burden of a higher cost. Thus, the method provided by the second conventional technology is not suitable for dissemination of information such as commercial information and advertisements.
While only one information terminal is required in the method provided by the third conventional technology, a subscriber needs to make an access to the information center every time the subscriber wants to obtain information. In addition, in the case of the second conventional technology, transmission of information is triggered by a telephone call made by a subscriber so that the subscriber must pay the fee for the telephone call, hence, bearing a burden of a higher cost. Thus, the method provided by the third conventional technology is also not suitable for dissemination of information such as commercial information and advertisements as is the case with the second conventional technology.
It is thus an object of the present invention addressing the problems described above to allow various kinds of information peculiar to areas covered by a radio-communication system to be transmitted to a specific radio-communication terminal or a plurality of radio-communication terminals at the same time.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a network wherein information on positions of radio-communication terminals is controlled and recognized in area units narrower than areas of a cellular network or pager areas and information peculiar to a narrow area is transmitted to only radio-communication terminals located in a smallest unit area in which the position of a radio-communication terminal can be recognized or a plurality of such smallest unit areas. Examples of a smallest unit area are an area for registering positions of radio-communication terminals each allowed to make a telephone call in the network or an area in the network covered by a radio station.
It is a further object of the present invention to allow both the information provider and the subscriber to select information by recognition of the identification of the subscriber and the identification of information desired by the subscriber using subscriber data stored in a subscriber-information management data base (DB).
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide service media suitable for dissemination of information such as commercial information wherein it is not necessary for the subscriber to make an access to the radio-communication system each time the subscriber wants to obtain information and to prevent the cost burden borne by the subscriber from rising.
As a first solution means, the present invention provides an information communicating method adopted in a radio-communication system comprising a plurality of radio-communication terminals and a plurality of radio base stations carrying out radio-communications with said radio-communication terminal, said information communicating method comprising the steps of:
receiving a request for a location registration including information on a location-registration area and a terminal ID and coming from said radio-communication terminals located in one specific location-registration area or a plurality of specific location-registration areas which are each a smallest unit area recognizable by said radio-communication system;
searching for a subscriber-information-request ID and a subscriber ID from said terminal ID included in said received request; and if said subscriber-information-request ID found at said search step indicates that subscriber information is not required,
communicating presentation information peculiar to said specific location-registration area as indicated by a presentation-information ID determined by said subscriber ID and said information on said specific location-registration area to said radio-communication terminal located in said specific location-registration area through a control signal channel.
As a second solution means, the present invention provides an information providing apparatus comprising:
a subscriber-information management data base (DB) for storing a subscriber-information-request ID and a subscriber ID for each terminal ID;
a presentation-information management DB for storing a presentation-information ID for said subscriber ID and presentation information for said presentation-information ID;
a network interface, connected to external devices, for receiving and transmitting signals; and
a processing unit for carrying out processing to communicate presentation information on the basis of information stored in said subscriber-information management DB and said presentation-information management DB, wherein said processing comprises the steps of:
receiving a request for a location registration including information on a location-registration area and a terminal ID and coming from radio-communication terminals located in one specific location-registration area or a plurality of specific location-registration areas which are each a smallest unit area recognizable by a radio-communication system;
searching said subscriber-information management DB for a subscriber-information-request ID and a subscriber ID by using said terminal ID included in said received request;
searching said presentation-information management DB for a presentation-information ID by using said subscriber ID and said information on said specific location-registration area;
searching said presentation-information management DB for presentation information peculiar to said specific location-registration area by using said present-information ID; and
communicating said presentation information to said radio-communication terminal located in said specific location-registration area through a control signal channel.
As a third solution means, the present invention provides a radio-communication system having an information providing apparatus connected to a radio base station, a switch or a network and used for communicating presentation information peculiar to a specific location-registration area to a radio-communication terminal located in said specific location-registration area through a control signal channel.
As a fourth solution means, the present invention provides a radio-communication terminal employed in a radio-communication system comprising a plurality of radio-communication terminals, a plurality of radio base stations communicating with said radio-communication terminals through radio-transmission paths and an information providing apparatus communicating presentation information by transmitting and receiving signals to and from said radio base stations, said radio-communication terminal comprising:
a display unit for displaying said presentation information received from said information providing apparatus employed in said radio-transmission system by way of one of said radio base stations through a control channel;
an input unit for inputting subscriber information used for selecting presentation information; and
a control-channel processing unit for displaying said presentation information which is associated with information on a location-registration area and a terminal ID included in a request for a location registration made by said radio-communication terminal and transmitted by said information providing apparatus by using a control channel in response to said request for a location registration.